Hornswoggle
|birth_place = Oshkosh, Wisconsin |death_date = |death_place = |billed = The End Of The Rainbow, Ireland |resides = |trainer = |debut = 2005 |retired = }} Dylan Postl (May 29, 1986) is an American professional wrestler, formerly signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he was best known by his ring names Hornswoggle or Little Bastard. Professional wrestling career Prior to joining World Wrestling Entertainment, Dylan appeared with NWA Wisconsin in 2005 as "The World's Sexiest Midget" $hortstack, where he won the NWA Wisconsin X Division Championship. He also would go on to capture the SSW Tag Team Championship with Devin Diamond from "The Pretty Hott Thangs" Ryan Kross and Josh Maxim on May 19, 2006 in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, but relinquished the belt due to having signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment. World Wrestling Entertainment (2006) Little Bastard (2006–2007) Postl signed with World Wrestling Entertainment in May 2006. On May 26, Postl made his televised debut in Bakersfield, Ca on SmackDown! as the leprechaun partner of the Irish wrestler, Finlay. After Finlay's victory over Paul Burchill, an extremely hyper, dirty, mysterious little man (Postl) in a leprechaun costume scurried out from under the ring and jumped on Burchill, laughing maniacally all the while. Finlay pulled him off, only to slam him back down onto Burchill again and again. For the next few weeks, Postl continued to appear from under the ring after matches and attack Finlay's opponents. Eventually, SmackDown play-by-play commentator Michael Cole began referring to him as the Little Bastard. Little Bastard soon became more and more aggressive and started attacking Finlay's opponent during matches, much to Finlay's dismay. On numerous occasions, Finlay either physically shoved Little Bastard back under the ring or was forced to tackle him before he could hit an opponent. At one point, Little Bastard attacked Finlay, biting Finlay when Finlay tried to stop him from attacking Gunner Scott. Little Bastard helped Finlay win the WWE United States Championship when he tossed him a shillelagh to knock out the United States Champion Bobby Lashley and pick up the win. On November 1, 2006, WWE.com ran an article titled "Little Bastard Exposed". It was an email sent by an anonymous WWE fan, who said he spotted Little Bastard in a Green Bay, Wisconsin parking lot, in the back of a car with an unidentified woman. Little Bastard then went berserk and drove off. As part of the storyline, Bastard threatened to sue WWE for invasion of privacy when the picture was taken. Postl also requested that he receive a public apology from commentator Michael Cole for giving him the name "Little Bastard." Hornswoggle (2007) In the lead-up to No Way Out, Finlay threatened Michael Cole, warning him to call Postl "Hornswoggle" from then on. And this became his official name. Strangely, this prompted The Boogeyman to initiate a feud with Postl. The Boogeyman teamed with a miniature person dubbed "Little Boogeyman". The feud ended with a tag team match at No Way Out. Finlay and Postl beat The Boogeyman and Little Boogeyman. Prior to the match was the first time Postl spoke, telling Finlay that little people scared him. Later that week on SmackDown!, Hornswoggle pinned the Boogeyman with a jumping DDT, in a match pitting himself and Finlay against Boogeyman and Little Boogeyman. On February 23, his name was changed to Hornswoggle on WWE's website and all references to the name "Little Bastard" were removed. The meaning of Hornswoggle is to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax. The name change became official on the March 2 episode of SmackDown! when Postl attacked John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Michael Cole. Afterward, Finlay intimidated Cole and told him that Postl's name was Hornswoggle. Despite this, Cole continued to occasionally refer to Postl as "Little Bastard". On March 30, 2007, he helped Finlay beat Mr. Kennedy by performing a senton bomb off a stepladder onto Mr. Kennedy, essentially copying Kennedy's move, the Kenton Bomb. SmackDown! announcers Michael Cole and JBL immediately referred to the move as the "Lepreton Bomb." During the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 23, which Finlay was involved in, Mr. Kennedy hit Hornswoggle with a Green Bay Plunge off of a ladder when Hornswoggle tried to interfere. On the following edition of SmackDown!, Finlay attacked Mr. Kennedy after his match and challenged him to a handicap match with Postl as Finlay's partner. Before the match, Mr. Kennedy apologized for hurting Hornswoggle. Finlay accepted his apology and formed a team with Kennedy. Hornswoggle won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship after he pinned Jamie Noble in a Cruiserweight Open at The Great American Bash. The match stipulation declared that any and all people who qualified to compete in the division could enter this match. He briefly ran across the ring as the bell was rung before going back under the ring making him an official participant in the match. The other participants and commentators were unaware that he was a participant in the match until the referee counted the pin and awarded him the belt becoming a fan favorite in the process. This made him the first little person wrestler to win a championship in WWE history. He also became the lightest, shortest, and youngest (21 years, 51 days) wrestler to win the Cruiserweight Championship. Hornswoggle then began a feud with Noble over the belt. The next week on SmackDown!, Hornswoggle retained the title when he defeated Noble by countout. He attacked Noble in the following weeks by shoving a pie in his face, spraying him with a fire extinguisher, pushing him into Kane and causing him to get chokeslammed, and locking him in a large box. Mr. McMahon's illegitimate son; Finlay's legitimate son (2007–2008) On September 10, in conclusion to the Mr. McMahon "illegitimate storyline" on Raw, Postl was revealed to be Vince's son in a storyline. Hornswoggle still made appearances on SmackDown!, as well. Although his partnership with Finlay was quietly phased out, he still continued to feud with Jamie Noble. His feud with Noble ended on the September 28 edition of SmackDown! when Acting General Manager Vickie Guerrero forced Hornswoggle to surrender the Cruiserweight Championship (which was later abandoned), citing that his status as Mr. McMahon's son and his diminutive stature would eventually jeopardize his well-being. After the affair of finding out who the illegitimate son was, Mr. McMahon began giving Hornswoggle matches against competitors that were much larger than him. His reason for doing this, was that he was showing his son, "tough love." Hornswoggle was placed into a match against The Great Khali at Survivor Series. At the event, Khali defeated Hornswoggle by disqualification when Finlay attacked Khali on Hornswoggle's behalf. This was the first time that Finlay appeared together with Hornswoggle since the beginning of the Hornswoggle and Mr. McMahon storyline. Finlay's attack on Khali started a feud between the two. At Armageddon, Finlay defeated Khali with the help of Hornswoggle. In addition, Hornswoggle also faced Khali on the [[WWE Raw#Special episodes|15th Anniversary of Raw]], but Hulk Hogan made a surprise return in a one night appearance to come to Hornswoggle's aid. Hornswoggle appeared in the Royal Rumble match, hiding under the ring upon entering until he came out and eliminated The Miz; Finlay appeared to protect Hornswoggle and took himself out of the match. Finlay became the only person in WWE history to be disqualified in the Royal Rumble match. On the February 18 edition of Raw, Hornswoggle had a scheduled steel cage match against his storyline father, Mr. McMahon. During this match, Hornswoggle was whipped with a leather belt by Mr. McMahon. Finlay tried to get involved, but was attacked and handcuffed to the ring ropes by JBL. Mr. McMahon left the ring and allowed JBL to beat up Hornswoggle while an enraged Finlay watched. Following this, WWE.com announced that Hornswoggle had kayfabe suffered internal injuries, including bleeding of the brain and spinal trauma. On February 25, JBL claimed that Hornswoggle is not Mr. McMahon's son, but "in reality is the son of Finlay". The next week on Raw, Finlay confirmed Hornswoggle was indeed his son, then was forced to watch helplessly as JBL assaulted Hornswoggle in his hospital bed. Postl returned to live television at WrestleMania XXIV, accompanying Finlay to the ring for his Belfast Brawl with JBL, once interfering by hitting JBL with a kendo stick, allowing Finlay to get the shot in with the shillelagh. JBL won the match by hitting Finlay with the kendo stick in the shins and following up with the Clothesline from Hell. He made his in-ring return on April 18 episode of SmackDown, defeating Matt Striker after a Tadpole Splash. On the April 21 edition of Raw, Hornswoggle was entered in the 2008 King of the Ring, but he was unsuccessful as he lost to William Regal in the first round after being submitting to the Regal Stretch in 19 seconds. As part of the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft, Hornswoggle was drafted to the ECW brand along with Finlay. At Night of Champions, Hornswoggle and Finlay challenged John Morrison and The Miz for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but failed to win. Move to Raw, Feud with Chavo Guerrero, and D-Generation X (2009–2010) On April 13, 2009, Hornswoggle was drafted to the Raw brand, without Finlay, as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft. Hornswoggle's most noted feud on Raw was against Chavo Guerrero in which the two superstars competed in a series of gimmick matches each week determined by the weekly Guest Host for Raw (Bullrope Match, Blindfold Match, Sharp Dressed Man Match, etc.). The program began on July 7, 2009 on WWE Superstars and continued on to Raw. On the October 26 episode of Raw, after several weeks of wearing D-Generation X clothing, Hornswoggle received legal notification that he was no longer allowed to wear any DX clothing. Later on in the night, he got his revenge by helping the Raw guest hosts, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, pit DX against each other and John Cena for the WWE Championship at Survivor Series while still wearing the DX gear. On the December 21st edition of Raw, Hornswoggle tried pressing charges against DX for assault on him, but later dropped them when DX agreed to make him DX's official mascot. On the January 18, 2010 edition of Raw backstage, Hornswoggle and Triple H confronted Big Show, The Miz and Jon Heder. Triple H made the match a six-man tag team match: DX and Hornswoggle against The Big Show, The Miz and Jon Heder which ended after Hornswoggle pinned Heder. On February 8, 2010 Monday Night Raw started with Carl Edwards' #99 Roush Fenway Racing Aflac Ford Fusion doing burnouts in the parking lot. The car drove in to the arena, only to reveal that Hornswoggle was driving it. When he got out he jumped on the top and did the trademark DX crotch chop. Edwards, that night's guest host, entered through the traditional titantron with the Bella Twins, and then made the traditional second-rope ring entrance, followed by going to the top rope to perform his signature backflip. Hornswoggle appeared on the April 12 edition of Raw in the 'Baywatch Triple Threat Diva Tag', performing a frog splash life saving maneuver on Santino Marella. On the next Raw after he won a draft pick against Dolph Ziggler by count out, Ziggler attacked him with the sleeper hold, injuring him. Return to SmackDown, alliance with Natalya & The Great Khali (2010–2013) As part of﻿ the 2010 WWE Supplemental Draft on WWE.com, Hornswoggle was drafted back to the SmackDown brand. On May 21 edition of SmackDown, he became the guest for Christian's segment "Peep Show", in which Vickie and Chavo Guerrero interrupted and distracted Christian, before being attacked by Dolph Ziggler and Chavo Guerrero, while Hornswoggle hid in a box. The following week, Hornswoggle teamed up with Christian to defeat Guerrero and Ziggler in a tag team match. After a brief hiatus, he made his return on the August 20 edition of Smackdown! disguised as a plant in Team Lay-Cool's locker room, appearing one week later in Teddy Long's office disguised as a plant once again. On the September 3 edition of SmackDown, an angle where Long attempted to get Hornswoggle to speak English began. He was later seen with The Dudebusters as they tried to teach him how to talk and help them "move" to Syfy. He chased Layla around in the 8 Divas Tag Match on October 1 only to get kicked by Michelle McCool. On the October 8 edition of SmackDown!, Hornswoggle was named the official mascot for the SmackDown! team at Bragging Rights. On the December 10th tapings of SmackDown, Hornswoggle defeated the Jack Swagger's Soaring Eagle mascot with a Tadpole Splash. On January 30, 2011, Hornswoggle entered the 2011 Royal Rumble match, helping John Cena and Kofi Kingston eliminate a few superstars, only for him to get eliminated by King Sheamus. Hornswoggle appeared on the Valentine's Day episode of Raw, giving chocolates to guest host Ariel Winter, who surprised him with a kiss of gratitude, prompting Hornswoggle to lift her with joy as The Great Khali looked on. On the season premiere of NXT Redemption, Hornswoggle was revealed as the pro for Titus O'Neil. Hornswoggle also appeared in WrestleMania XXVII in Snoop Dogg & Teddy Long's Backstage Talent Search. Teddy Long revealed the fact that Hornswoggle couldn't talk so Snoop and Teddy left, which left Hornswoggle to actually rap and speak for the first time in WWE since late 2009. After his tag team victory over Darren Young and Chavo Guerrero. Young attacked O'Neil thus making him a heel. They later had a match against each other which Hornswoggle won. On the May 2, 2011 episode of Raw (The Rocks birthday episode) Hornswoggle appeared back stage to wish The Rock a happy birthday, dressed in a costume from The Rock's movie "The Scorpion King". Hornswoggle would later be confronted by Titus O'Neil's previous NXT mentor, Zack Ryder. Ryder lured Titus out of the ring by pretending to attack Hornswoggle, but he quickly re-entered the ring and ambushed Titus as he climbed back in, cementing the victory. As his old Nemesis Chavo would leave the WWE, Hornswoggle was briefly the only remaining NXT mentor with a rookie still in the Redemption competition (Darren Young was still there, without a pro) until they were joined by the surprise entrant Derrick Bateman and his pro Daniel Bryan. Bateman mocked the contenders, saying that he was the only Rookie with a pro, implying that Hornswoggle was not a valid pro. On the Live Christmas edition of Smackdown, Hornswaggle won a battle royal to get a "Wish from Santa Claus" After a few choices,(and help from Sheamus) Hornswaggle got his wish to be able to talk. After this, he would start making more regular appearances, such as "Guest annoucner", and in several skits, would make fun of Vickie Guerrero such as saying "Excuse me". 3MB (2014) Hornswoggle was revealed as 3MB's mascot on the April 15 episode of Main Event, thus turning heel for the first time since his debut. Though he was defeated by El Torito, he got revenge the following week, pinning him after a Tadpole Splash. That following RAW, it was revealed that their rubber match would be the kick-off to Extreme Rules and be contested in the first ever "WeeLC" match. At Payback, he was again defeated by El Torrito. with the stipulation being if he lost, he would lose his hair, which happened later after the match. June 12, 2014 Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal were released form WWE, ending 3MB. In July on WWE Superstars the Rosebuds kidnapped Hornswoggle and turned him into a mini Adam Rose turning him face again On September 28, 2015, WWE announced it had suspended Postl for 30 days for violating the company's Wellness policy. After not having made any appearances in WWE since then, Postl was released from WWE on May 6, 2016. Independent circuit (2016−present) Following his release from WWE, it was confirmed that Postl signed to appear at a show co-promoted by Global Force Wrestling and WrestlePro under the ring name Swoggle and made his debut for the promotion on June 11. In wrestling *'Finishing moves' **''Celtic Cross'' (Kryptonite Krunch) – adopted from Dave Finlay **''Tadpole Splash'' / The Big Splash (Frog splash) **''Sweet Shin Music'' (Superkick to the shin) - parodied from Shawn Michaels *'Signature moves' **Headscissors takedown **Cutter **DDT **Jumping DDT **''Lepreton Bomb'' (Senton bomb) – parodied from Mr. Kennedy **Spear *'Managers' **Finlay **Eve **Rosa Mendes **AJ Lee **Brodus Clay **Natalya **3MB *'Wrestlers managed' **Finlay **Goldust **Evan Bourne **Mark Henry **D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) **Big Show **3MB *'Tag teams and stables' **D-Generation-X **3MB *'Nicknames' **'"The Once and Former "Hornswoggle""' **'"The King Of Small Style"' *'Entrance themes' **"He's Ma Da" by Jim Johnston (2007–present) **"Break it Down" by The DX Band (2009-2010; used while in DX) **"Three Man Band" by Jim Johnston (2014; used while in 3MB) **"Lucky You" by Kenny Wootton & Harley Wootton Championships and accomplishments *'NWA Wisconsin' **NWA Wisconsin X Division Championship (1 time) *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' **PWI Rookie of the Year (2007) *'South Shore Wrestling' **SSW Tag Team Championship – with Devin Diamond (1 time) *'World Wrestling Entertainment' **WWE Cruiserweight Championship (1 time) **'Raw General Manager' *'Wrestling Observer Newsletter' **Worst Gimmick (2009) **Worst Feud of the Year (2009) with Chavo Guerrero *'WrestleCrap' **The Gooker Award (2007) Being revealed as Vince McMahon's son **The Gooker Award (2009) Feud with Chavo Guerrero External links * WWE.com Profile * Dylan Postl profile at CAGEMATCH.net *Hornswoggle Titantron zh:Hornswoggle Category:American wrestlers Category:Brew City Wrestling alumni Category:NWA No Limits Wrestling alumni Category:NWA Wisconsin alumni Category:World Wrestling Entertainment alumni Category:1986 births Category:2004 debuts Category:WWE Cruiserweight Champions Category:Living people Category:Male wrestlers Category:WrestlePro alumni Category:Atomic Wrestling Entertainment alumni Category:House Of Hardcore alumni Category:Absolute Intense Wrestling alumni Category:Revolution Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Chikara Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Over The Top Wrestling alumni Category:Midget wrestlers Category:Total Nonstop Action Wrestling alumni Category:Zelo Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Heroes And Legends Wrestling alumni Category:Warrior Wrestling alumni